The ancient peoples named in the Holy Quran and their punishment

The people of Noah were sunk in idolatry and deep corruption. Noah called them to Islam for 950 years without pause. Only a handful of believers went with him. At Allah's command he built a huge ark. The mockers laughed at him. When the flood came, the waters swallowed the whole earth. Even Noah's son refused to board the ark and was drowned.

Ad were a mighty people of great stature, known for their colossal buildings (Iram of the Pillars). Proud, they declared: 'Who is greater than us in strength?' Hud called them to leave their idols, but they refused stubbornly. Allah sent them a destroying wind for 7 nights and 8 days that swept them away like dust.

Thamud carved the rocks into splendid dwellings. Allah sent them Salih with a miracle: a she-camel coming out of the rock. She was sacred — no one was to harm her. But the most impious killed her in defiance. Salih warned them: in three days you will be punished. On the morning of the fourth day, a thunderous cry destroyed them all.

The people of Lut practised sodomy, an act never committed before them. Lut urged them strongly to give it up, but they answered: 'Drive them out; they are people who keep themselves pure!' Angels came to Lut in human form. The people sought to attack them. The angels announced the punishment at hand and ordered Lut to flee without looking back.

The people of Madyan were traders who falsified weights and measures. Shuayb, called 'the orator of the prophets' for his eloquence, called them to honesty in their dealings. They answered him: 'Does your prayer command that we abandon what our fathers worshipped?' They persisted in their cheating and were punished.

The people of the Wood (Al-Aykah) lived in a wooded region and practised fraud in trade. They challenged Shuayb: 'Bring down a piece of the sky on us, if you are truthful!' Their punishment was a shadowing cloud that turned into burning fire.

Pharaoh proclaimed himself the supreme god and held the Children of Israel in slavery. Moses came with nine miraculous signs: the staff-serpent, the shining hand, locusts, lice, frogs, blood… Pharaoh refused stubbornly. When the sea parted, he said 'I believe!' — but too late. He drowned, and Allah preserved his body as a sign for later generations.

The Children of Israel were a chosen people whom Allah granted countless favours: deliverance from Egypt, manna and quails in the desert, the Torah. But they disobeyed again and again: they worshipped the golden calf, demanded to see Allah, killed prophets and altered the Scriptures. They are the people most often mentioned in the Quran.

The people of Saba enjoyed extraordinary prosperity thanks to the dam of Ma'rib. The gardens flourished and the roads were safe. Allah said to them: 'Eat of the provision of your Lord and be grateful to Him.' But they turned away. The Queen of Saba (Bilqis) met Solomon and embraced Islam.

Tubba is the title of the kings of ancient Yemen, as Pharaoh was for Egypt. One of the Tubba kings is said to have believed in Allah and called his people to Islam, but they refused. Ibn Abbas said that Tubba should neither be cursed nor praised, since his state is not settled in the sacred texts.

Allah sent two messengers to this town, then strengthened them with a third. The people refused and called them a bad omen. A man from the far side of the town — Habib an-Najjar according to tradition — hurried to defend the messengers. He was killed. Allah said to him: 'Enter Paradise!' He cried out: 'If only my people knew!'

In the year the Prophet ﷺ was born, Abraha led an army with elephants to destroy the Kaaba. The lead elephant refused to advance towards Mecca. Allah then sent flights of Ababil birds carrying stones of sijjil (hardened clay). The whole army was destroyed like a field of grain eaten bare.

Among the Arabs of the Jahiliyyah (the age of ignorance), the tribe of Khuza'ah worshipped the star Sirius (Ash-Shi'ra), the brightest star in the sky. They held it to be a mighty deity. Allah revealed: 'And that it is He who is the Lord of Sirius' (53:49), meaning that this star is only a creature, and that the only one worthy of worship is its Creator.